NFL Week 7 picks, predictions: New York Giants vs. Atlanta Falcons | Could this be Eli Manning's final start?

The Giants are mired in an "embarrassing" 1-5 start for the second consecutive season, and things won't get any easier on Monday night against quarterback Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, rookie Calvin Ridley and the high-powered Atlanta Falcons.

Publicly, the Giants remain committed to Eli Manning, but while the offense is mired in the doldrums of averaging just 19.5 points per game, it is fair to wonder whether this could be his final start before ceding the starting job to fourth-round rookie Kyle Lauletta.

"We haven't scored enough points and I have acknowledged that we need to," Giants head coach Pat Shurmur admitted Tuesday. "We got the ball in the red zone a couple of times last week where we didnt score points. We were stopped on fourth down once, we kicked a couple of field goals, that makes the game a lot different and I've acknowledged that. When you get down there, you've got to score points. We also spotted them seven points, too."

Will this be the week that the Giants offense breaks out? Or is this the curtain call for Manning's tenure as the Giants' starting quarterback?

Here are our staff picks, as well as a roundup of predictions for Monday night's clash between the Giants and Falcons:

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Matt Lombardo, NJ Advance Media

While everyone from owner John Mara, and head coach Pat Shurmur, to wide receiver Sterling Shepard remain committed to 37-year-old quarterback Eli Manning, it is fair to wonder what the Giants have to gain by continuing to play the two-time Super Bowl MVP if things don't turn around in a hurry.

This doesn't feel like the kind of spot where the offense is suddenly going to get a jump-start, particularly with a quarterback who has been so reluctant to throw the ball downfield and against a passer who gets rid of the football quicker than most in the league, which will test the Giants' secondary.

Don't be surprised if the whispers calling for Kyle Lauletta to replace Manning build towards a crescendo ...

The Pick: Falcons 37, Giants 20

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Ryan Dunleavy, NJ Advance Media

Something has to give: The Giants are averaging 19.5 points per game and the Falcons are surrendering 32. Is this the game the Giants offense breaks out? Julio Jones and Odell Beckham might be the two best receivers in the NFL, but both have trouble scoring touchdowns. They have one combined. Let's go one for each in this shootout.

The Giants are circling the wagons around Eli Manning after a performance against the Eagles that left just about everyone yelling "NEXT!" about the quarterback position. When you've lost Phil Simms, as Manning did, you've lost America. But the conditions are right for a bounce-back performance for this offense playing indoors, on a long week, against the 29th rated passing defense in the NFL. This is not a three-win Giants team again.

The Pick: Giants 37, Falcons 30.

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Darryl Slater, NJ Advance Media

The 1-5 Giants' season is circling the drain as they head to Atlanta, to face the 2-4 Falcons. Rough start for the Falcons, who won 11 and 10 games the past two seasons, and reached the Super Bowl in 2016. Desperation time for the Giants. But desperation won't be enough to overcome an aging quarterback and dismal offensive line.

The Pick: Falcons 24, Giants 13

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Matt Stypulkoski, NJ Advance Media

It's impossible to bet on the Giants at this point. They may be able to produce a decent offensive performance against a porous Falcons defense, but there's little chance they'll do enough to keep up with Matt Ryan, Julio Jones and the like. The Falcons shouldn't have much of a problem here.

The Falcons are starting to get back on track after a rough start to the season, while the Giants continue to flutter. Matt Ryan is quietly having an impressive season and his weapons on offense trump Eli Manning's as a unit. The Falcons should be able to do enough on offense to hand New York its sixth loss of the season.

The Pick: Falcons 28, Giants 17

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Zack Rosenblatt, NJ Advance Media

The Giants are nextl-evel bad. The Falcons have been decimated due to injuries, but still have Matt Ryan and Julio Jones as the Giants crumble from within. Until New York shows any reason to trust them, there's no reason to pick them to win again this season.

The Pick: Falcons 34, Giants 13

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Joe Giglio, NJ Advance Media

Eleven days' rest. Playmakers to matchup against a depleted secondary. Decent red zone defense. The Giants actually look like a decent bet to make this a game on Monday night in Atlanta.

The number of people who are trying to make this disaster of a Giants season all about Odell Beckham Jr. increased by at least one (team owner John Mara) this week. Beckham is really about 30th on the list of serious issues this team has. The Falcons, though, can't look past them their win over the Bucs last week hardly earned them a vote of confidence. The loser of this game can start planning for next year.

Giants quarterback Eli Manning is coming off a game in which he posted a season-low 66.1 passer rating with no touchdowns in 43 attempts in a blowout loss at home to the Eagles. He has now lost 17 of his 21 starts since the start of last season and has thrown an equal number of interceptions and touchdowns (seven) over his past eight games. The fact that Vegas is expecting a relatively high scoring affair, doesn't bode well for the Giants, as theyve gone 1-9 straight up when playing in a game with an over under between 51 and 58 points.

"No offense ... versus no defense ... it's Monday Night Football!" I have the 1983 edition of Giants at Falcons on DVD in my vault. With Scott Brunner at quarterback (Phil Simms was always injured in those days) and Butch Woolfolk at running back, Big Blue had big problems on offense. Atlanta's offense was dynamic. Steve Bartkowski led the NFL in passer rating that season, with two solid running backs at his disposal in William Andrews and Gerald Riggs. Unfortunately, the Falcons couldn't stop anyone that season. (Does ... any ... of ... this ... sound familiar?) Usually, bad defense trumps bad offense, i.e., loses games. Looking at this upcoming "Monday Night Football" affair, however, the mental state of the Giants seems downtrodden (at best), resigned (at worst) -- at least from the outside looking in. Dan Quinn's relentlessly positive outlook -- and the Falcons being at home -- delivers a win.

The Falcons (2-4) have endured a season in which the offense has put up a ton of points only to repeatedly have the teams defense let it down. They technically broke the cycle last week, but should get only partial credit since the win came against an unimpressive Tampa Bay team, and Atlanta's defense still allowed 29 points. The Giants (1-5) wish they had Atlanta's problems. They have been just as bad on defense, with none of the positives on offense despite the presence of Saquon Barkley and Odell Beckham Jr.

An argument could be made that Ben McAdoo's firing last season was as much a result of how he handled Eli Manning's benching as it was the teams overall ineptitude. If things do not improve soon for Manning, his new coach, Pat Shurmur, may be faced with a decision similar to the one McAdoo botched.

A win or a close loss on the road might take some pressure off Shurmur and Manning, and with Beckham going against a soft Atlanta defense, that is a possibility.